Friday, February 25, 2011

Our Furry Family

Minnee
She has such a sweet face that its hard to discipline her. Luckily, she doesn't need to much discipline. She has a very mild demeanor and watches over all the other animals like she is the Queen of the house.

As you can see, she has grown a LOT in the past 6 months.
On days that are especially cold, the doggies have fun playing with their Papa Tutu in the snow.
Even the neighbors dog, Harley comes down to join in the fun. They chase each other around all day, playing, exploring and wrestling. Sometimes they go on hikes with Dad, and while Harley and Minnee stray from the trail, Chase and Lando follow Dad's path because the snow is too high for them elsewhere.
Even though there is lots and lots of snow, Chase and Lando don't mind a bit. They are always ready to play fetch or to help Dad do work around the house--even if its cold outside. Their new favorite activity is to follow Dad as he skates on his handmade ice skating pond!
The doggies also like to do sledding on the hill in front of our house. Dad sleds down the hill pretty fast, with the dogs racing behind him. When they get to the bottom, everybody wrestles like this...
Dad sure loves having all the doggies to keep him company up on the hill. They love having so much room to run and play.


This is how one dresses appropriately to go outside in negative temperatures.
Lando going off the beaten path. He seems happy to wiggle his way through lots of snow.
The doggies love to have their pictures taken.
Lando--loves to play and is always "underfoot". He is very obedient and has been trained well by Roo and Annie. He doesn't care too much what the other puppies are up to, especially if there's a human outside. He loves to get petted, and he patiently waits his turn. His favorite thing to do is to play fetch. He takes good care of his little brother Chase, doesn't put up with any of Harley's antics, and he deals well with Minnee and her excitement. He is like the Yoda of our little wild animal kingdom--very wise, experienced and patient.

Leia...
Leia is very vocal. She is not intimidated by the dogs, and when she feels like it she will come out and try to eat their food. Sometimes she'll find a good location up high and try to swat at her brothers Chase and Lando. We have seen her outside occasionally just exploring and taking in the views. Most of the time, she can be found cuddled up inside one of Nat's boxes of fetch taking cat naps.

Silver Fox....
Silver Fox is a beautiful all-white kitty. He is very mild-mannered and will let almost anyone hold him and cuddle him--including Lincoln last summer. Lincoln was trying hard to be careful with the cat, but he wasn't really supporting Silver Fox's bottom. Usually cats hate feeling unsupported and I was worried Silver Fox might scratch Lincoln, but he didn't. He let himself be held by his upper arms only, essentially being swung around. He just chilled. It was sweet. He stays surprisingly clean for being an outside cat.

Cougar...
Cougar is our hunter. He was the most active as a baby, and although he is small, he is definitely still on the prowl. He has caught lots of mice around the property, which Mom and Nat are very grateful for. Although he is a little bit of a hunter, he's also very sweet and will let you pick him up and cuddle him if he's in the mood.

Baxter...
Freckles & Baxter at the apartment. Freckles lives with Nat in town now.
Baxter (or Baxtie-boo-boo) was Nat's special project. We found her roaming around the house while it was still under construction. She was nothing but skin and bones, and she had paint and glue in her black fur. Nat caught her and brought her home, cleaned her up and fed her a lot. Once we moved into the new house, Baxter decided she wanted to be an outside cat, so we didn't see much of her. Nat was worried we might never see her again. Then, as suddenly as she left our house, she re-appeared in January! She's been hanging out in the shop, and keeping to herself. We are just glad that she's healthy and inside where its warm.

Lucky...
Ashlee, Brayden and Sierra were visiting last May when they told us they had found a stray cat behind Big Lots in town. We couldn't believe we had yet another creature to add to our brood! Lucky was tiny when we got him. He had long tangled fur, and the other kitties weren't very nice to him. He was very skittish and would hide in any corner he could in the shop. Eventually, as we took all the other cats to get 'fixed', Lucky decided he didn't want to be fixed. Since then, he has grown...and grown...and grown! He is now the biggest cat in the shop--and he makes sure the other cats know that he's the boss. He still doesn't like to be held or cuddled, but he does like to observe everything from his post on the bookshelves in the shop. He is almost as big as Chase now!


We love our animals!
(Not pictured/discussed: Chase, Monique, Freckles)

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Busy Busy Busy

I'm sure its no surprise to anyone how dang busy Mom and Dad are. Partially with working, writing, church callings and public speaking, but also with grandparenting. Coordinating schedules and travel arrangements between the 8 kids is a job in itself!
I found it hilarious when Mom sent the following "schedule" out to some kids to inform them of when we would be home and available to help out. I thought you guys would get a kick out of it too. And, as an unintended function... now there's a resource for everyone to see where in the heck Mom and Dad actually are at any given time.

March 10-11 – Sandi & Natalee dental conference in SLC for BBB

March 17-19 – Reed Las Vegas to a research conference

March 26-April 2 – Roo and family visit Idaho and Utah

April 2 (to June 18) – Reed goes to Brazil and South Africa

April 7-10 – Natalee –dental conference in San Francisco for BBB

April 13-18 – Natalee & Sandi to a special needs conference in Houston for BBB [tentative]

May 4-6 – Natalee & Sandi to a BBB celebrity event in Santa Monica (will also see Sierra’s play)

May 6-23 – Rick, Eden & kids to Idaho for 2 weeks to attend Asa’s wedding in Logan and see us

June 18 (Reed returns from South Africa)

June 19-24 – Barratt’s kids being tended in Utah and Idaho while parents on a cruise

July 3-10 – Reed & Sandi & Nat fly to North Carolina for blessing of JJ/Jen new baby

July 11-16 – Reed & Sandi fly onto Houston from NC [tentative]

Aug 20-24 – Reed & Sandi Phoenix - visit

Aug 25-28 – Reed & Sandi Los Angeles for 100th Anniversary of the school celebration

Aug 29-31 – Reed & Sandi Phoenix - tend

Sept 1-4 – Roo & Annie Los Angeles (John Williams concert)

Sept 3-Nov 30 – Reed Africa [ tentative that I join Reed part of November]

Sept 21-28 – Natalee & Sandi to Louisville, KY, ABC Kid’s product show for BBB

Nov 17-19 – Natalee & Sandi to San Diego, ASHA pathology convention for BBB

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Happy Valentines Day!

Mom, Dad and Nat often go on "date nights" together as a trio, so Valentines Day was no different. We celebrated by going out to one of Pocatello's fanciest restaurants (there are only 2 fancy restaurants in town, so it wasn't a hard choice). Mom and Nat had delicious tenderloin and Dad had spicy salmon. We all shared a piece of chocolate cake too.
It was fun to have a reason to get all dressed up in pinks, purples and reds. Nat loves her new pink coat too!

This was the temperature at Mom and Dad's house in Inkom on Valentines Day. Since then, it has warmed up in town to almost 50 degrees! Nat drove around town today with her window down, pretending it was summer.

Dad did a very good job of taking care of both of his Valentines. When Mom and Nat got to work on Thursday, there were flowers waiting for both of us. What a wonderful surprise!

Mom and Nat also had fun decorating their offices for Valentines day. Our little hallway is definitely very festive! We hope you all had a great Valentines too!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Aloha!

After suffering through several bitter winters in Idaho, we decided to reward ourselves this year by spending a week of icy January weather in sunny Kauai instead!
We had a great time, even though it rained a lot, we still enjoyed every minute of it.

Dad and Natalee spent at least an hour everyday doing this:
Dad calls this "being one with the water".

We also went to Dad's favorite restaurant to have his favorite dessert, "Hula Pie".
As you can see, one slice of Hula Pie is plenty for three people.

Nat's favorite part of the trip was going on a whale watching cruise with Dad. Although we did see some whales far in the distance, the best part was the dolphins who came right up to us, did flips and turns and rubbed their bellies on the bottom of the boat. They were so happy!


Not sure if you can read this, but we thought it was a funny sign.

Then we went to Mom's favorite restaurant to try her favorite dessert, but they had stopped making it! We were disappointed, but luckily we still had this gorgeous view to enjoy... and for much less calories.

Nat spent a lot of the trip capturing pictures like the one below, which don't have any people in them, but are still beautiful. We wish flowers like this would grow in Idaho!
The only thing that would have made the trip better would have been if our family could have joined us! What does everyone think about trying to go in 2012?